'Good Wife': Kalinda's husband is 'risky' business, Panjabi says

CBS has released a juicy promo for The Good Wife‘s Sept. 30 return in which we see Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) and her estranged husband Nick (British actor Marc Warren) get handsy — both in the bedroom and at the office (fight scene!). Watch it below. You definitely see why creators Robert and Michelle King have referenced Fifty Shades of Grey when talking about the relationship. Chatting recently with EW, Panjabi admitted she’s both excited and nervous to see how the audience reacts to it. “I think Marc and I as actors have made risky choices with risky material,” she says. “It’s interesting, it’s sexy, it’s edgy, it’s dangerous, it’s violent, it’s intimate. It’s so many different things rolled into one.”

Who should play Kalinda’s husband was the subject of much online debate during the offseason. The Kings wanted an established actor still unfamiliar to most American viewers. “That seemed much more interesting to us because you never know then what this guy will do,” Robert says. “The problem if you have a recognizable face is you kinda know the range of what that male star will do. What’s fun is the unpredictability factor. I think you’ll see with Marc Warren there’s a real sense of what Malcolm McDowell gave in his first roles in If…. and A Clockwork Orange.”

Panjabi and Warren never met before he was cast, but the Kings thought his vocal range would provide a sexy contrast. “Kalinda is usually so hair-pinned-up and exactly right, and Marc Warren, you got the sense, could be all over the map in this kind of Trainspotting way,” Robert says. Having now seen him in action with Panjabi, the Kings are confident they made the right call. “We love him,” Michelle says. “And once you see him, you can’t imagine Kalinda being married to anyone else. He’s that perfect.”

Panjabi seems to agree. “A lot of people are quite intimidated by Kalinda. The way he plays it, he’s not intimidated by Kalinda, he’s very much turned on by her danger. Anybody who’s gonna work opposite Kalinda would have to have that certain edge to them,” she says. “He’s just a very powerful actor, and I think there was an instant connection for the characters, but also for Marc and Archie. Both being Brits, both having a crazy sense of humor, helped us capture that chemistry.”

“It’s been a marriage a bit made in heaven… or hell,” Robert says with a laugh. “We don’t know what will be decided by the year.”